Has anyone ever been to a wedding where there were guest boutonnieres?

I searched old threads and couldn’t find anything about it, but am considering setting out flowers for guests to pin to their lapels. The flowers would tie into the donation we are making to veterans organizations, as each flower would have some meaning behind it.

I’m confused… so are the boutonnieres in leu of a favor? In my mind the point of the boutonieres/corsages are to highlight special people – fathers, siblings, grandparents… So I would be really confused as a guest why I would get a flower.. Also women’s “boutonnieres” are different.. they have ribbon etc… I think it’s interesting, but as a guest would be confused.

I know my aunt gave every get a rose at her wedding. I also saw a great escort card idea in Martha Stewart magazine once where they made little bows out of frabric, attached them to pins, and then attached those to cards with the guests’ name and table on them. All the guests can wear the bows during the reception–I thought it was cute (and might be cheaper than getting boutineres for everyone).

I think it depends on the size of your wedding. Mine is super small, 14-16 people including us. So I’m finding a small job for everyone and getting everyone a boutineer or wrist corsage to make everyone a part of the day. But if there were 140 people it would be another story altogether.

@stargurl101: Yes, the donation would be in lieu of favors. Since bouts are a way to honor special people, guests would wear the bouts to honor veterans and show support. Many of my family members are in the armed forces (or were when they were alive), so this would be a way to honor them. My father, in particular, would have just returned from war 1 month prior to wedding.

I’m not really worried about the cost, wedding size is small enough that it won’t be significant. Guest bouts would just be 1 flower, so they would definitely be different than bridal party bouts.

For those who voted no, can you explain why? Really I’m just wanting to find out 1) if you’ve seen this before (I’ve only seen it on Martha Stewart weddings) and 2) whether guests would like the idea of getting a flower.

-what fabric my dress was made of- some expensive fabrics are not meant to be pierced and would in fact be damaged by that

-what you were expecting me to wear- if I didn’t agree with the cause or thought it was ugly or didn’t go with my dress, I wouldn’t wear it. I spent time accessorizing my outfit and your surprise wasn’t part of it.